Live Q&A: 2001-2021, 20 Years of Air Operations in Afghanistan

October 21, 2001: two Mirage IVP reconnaissance aircraft deployed to Al Dhafra, UAE, to conduct over 80 IMINT missions over Afghanistan in under three months.

August 27, 2021: the final A400M departed Kabul International Airport with embassy personnel following the Taliban’s successful assault on the Afghan capital. In the preceding two weeks, France evacuated nearly 3,000 personnel, the majority of whom were Afghan refugees.

Between these two dates: two decades of continuous operations. This era was defined by countless flight hours, air-to-air refuelings and missions that pushed both aviators and their aircraft to their operational limits. However, these twenty years facilitated a significant qualitative leap in technical and procedural interoperability with NATO partners.

Live Q&A Briefing

You are invited to join a short briefing and live Q&A session focused on the technical and tactical aspects of these operations. This is an open event for all DCS players and military history enthusiasts who seek a deeper understanding of the missions that defined an era of combat aviation. The session will take place on May 15, 2026, at 18:30 UTC on our official Discord server.